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PLATTEVILLE-During the month of October, a trip to Washington, D.C. might have been the last place many would have wanted to travel to with the recent sniper shootings. However, University of Wisconsin-Platteville Pioneer Farm Research Initiative Director Tom Hunt made a trip to the nation's capital in early October and returned with grant administrative skills and a $380,000 grant for the Pioneer Farm.

"My visit to Washington, D.C. was a multi-purpose trip funded through a federal grant from the Department of Education Congressional Appropriation Grant in Support of the Pioneer Farm," Hunt said. "My primary purpose was to receive training on the administration of federal grants. My secondary purpose was to visit various government offices and departments."

During the three days Hunt spent in Washington, D.C., he attended a day-long workshop offered by the Department of Education, learning about the fiduciary responsibilities of receiving a grant, information he will share with various departments on campus at UWP. Hunt also met with Wisconsin Congressman Ron Kind.

"In conjunction with Chancellor David Markee and Duane Ford (Dean of the College of Business, Industry, Life Science and Agriculture), Congressman Kind worked to earmark funds for UWP agricultural education," Hunt said. "We were granted a total of $380,000 for one year to develop various components of our agricultural education."

Hunt said 50 percent of the grant will be used to develop the distance education component of the agriculture technology center at the Pioneer Farm. Science and data collection will receive 25 percent of the grant, database development will receive 15 percent, and the remaining 10 percent of the grant will be used for the development of education and outreach programs.

"We want to develop an intergenerational education program that would not only include school-aged students but also producers and other professionals working in the agricultural field," Hunt said.

During his stay in Washington, D.C., Hunt also took the opportunity to visit a number of national monuments and memorials. The Franklin Delano Roosevelt Memorial had a particular impact on Hunt, he said.

"The change in venue was inspirational and there is so much vitality of thought at our nation's Capitol," Hunt said. "One of the quotes at the FDR Memorial really affected me. 'Men and nature must work hand and hand. The throwing out of balance of the resources of nature, throws out of balance also the lives of men."